Saturday, December 31, 2016

All In




(Ron Galelle/Getty Image)
When my parents were still alive they always spoke very well of Donald Trump, the young, somewhat wild, millionaire from New York City.  Hearing of Donald’s possible run for the Presidency in early 2015 I wondered what my parents – now gone from this world for over 25 years – would think.  Throughout Donald’s run and eventual victory I imaged my parents cheering him on, and the fact that I was a Trump supporter made those daydreams rich and sweet.

After Melania and Donald descended the escalator on June 16, 2015 I watched and listened as “The Donald” spoke of the United States of America in a way that was very familiar to me – this billionaire sounded like an average American.

Donald spoke of ISIS, the low GDP numbers and how “our” jobs needed to be brought back to America.  He spoke of our failing military, “The Big Lie – Obamacare,” how “Politicians are all talk, no action,” and said “our” political systems are controlled by lobbyists.

Donald spoke of America, her safety and security, her citizens, and the fact she no longer has “victories.”  “When was the last time you saw a Chevy in Tokyo?” Donald asked, and I wondered how many American made cars had ever been shipped to Japan.  Then Donald announced “we” would “Take the brand of the United States of America and make it great again.” 

That day Donald Trump said many things that resounded within my American spirit. 
~  “So ladies and gentlemen, I am officially running for President of the United States, and we are going to make our country great again.” 
~  “How stupid are our leaders?” Donald said as the crowd chanted, “We want Trump!”
~  “I made all the right predictions about Iraq,” he said, and had proof to back up his words. 
~  “This is going to be an election that’s based on competence, because people are tired of these nice people and they’re tired of being ripped off by everybody in the world and they’re tired of spending more money on education than any nation in the world per capita.  Than any nation in the world and we’re 26th in the world – 25 countries are better than us at education and some of them are like 3rd world countries.  But we’re becoming a 3rd world country, because of our infrastructure, our airports our roads – everything.”

“I have a great life” and “I am going to fund my own campaign,” were two critical comments Donald made that day.  Donald Trump – the epitome of a man who has attained the American Dream – was willing to throw his “great life” into the evil caldron of politics.  Not only was he willing to step outside his sweet life, but like our country’s founding fathers Donald Trump was willing to put his fortune on the line for the betterment of The United States of America.


Donald’s list of things he wanted to accomplish quickly upon becoming President included,
1) Repealing Obamacare
2) Building a wall on our southern border
3) Getting tough on ISIS
4) Finding the right guy to make our military work
5) Stopping Iran from getting nukes
6) Terminating Obama’s illegal executive order on immigration
7) Supporting the 2nd amendment
8) Ending Common Core
9) Rebuilding our Infrastructure (on time and on budget)
10) Saving Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security without cutting it
11) Renegotiating foreign trade deals
12) Reducing 14 million dollars in debt
13) Strengthening our military and caring for our vets
and
14) Bringing the American Dream back.  

Throughout his speech Donald Trump said “we,” not he, not the government, but “We the people” would accomplish many things.  He said “We” will make America great again.  Donald said America and Americans needed a “Cheerleader,” and that word – cheerleader – struck a deep chord in my heart. 
   
Everything Donald Trump spoke of that afternoon sounded exactly like what I and most of my friends had been saying for years.  He did not speak like a lying politician, he sounded like an intelligent businessman with a wealth of experience and deep love for the United States of America and her people.

June 16, 2015 I was all in for Donald Trump.

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Christmas Card 2016

To all those near and far, may you have a blessed Christmas and may the Lord, Jesus Christ, fill you with His peace, comfort and joy today and for all eternity.

Here is a copy of the physical card I made and sent this year.  Personal information on the back blurred out for privacy of family and friends.

Front of card --
Inside of card --
Back of card --
Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Never apolitical



I have never been apolitical.  Even my birthday, February 29th – Leap Year, is interesting in that Presidential Elections happen every four years and always on Leap Years.  

The academic world says infant memories are “impossible,” but I clearly remember watching President Eisenhower’s second inaugural address while standing in my crib a month before my first birthday rolled around.  Of course I had no clue who all those little black and white people were or why they were just standing there, but it is very apropos that one of my favorite Presidents was also part of one of my very early childhood memories.

In elementary school I remember my parents having long discussions about someone named “Goldwater.”  How I wish I had paid attention to what my parents were saying, or knew what they thought of Barry and that entire political season.

In high school, towards the end of the Vietnam War and looking every bit a radical hippie (who graduated in the top 11% of her class academically out of 800 plus seniors), my strong support for President Nixon’s second term in office had many adults doing a double-take.

As a young adult out on my own I switched to the Democrat Party for a short while, even volunteering on Michael Dukakis’s campaign and attending an extravagant gala put on for his volunteers – a gala that Dukakis and his staff attended.

After my husband, Doug, and I decided to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary by going somewhere “most people would never go,” we spent weeks spinning our little globe in search of the perfect unusual place to visit.  At 26 and 27 we had done little traveling, had zero in savings and neither of us spoke a foreign language.  It was a good thing we started planning for our 10th anniversary right after celebrating our 8th anniversary!

Doug and I severely tightened our budget and I got a second job.  We discovered “group travel” packages and found a Senior Citizen’s Travel Agency that offered very low prices.  Reading through their upcoming trips we found our second honeymoon destination – a 14 day trip to the U.S.S.R. with stopovers in England.  That year I learned the Russian alphabet and found that Soviets and Americans shared many of the same words – just written with different letters.  I bought an English/Russian dictionary and learned basic phrases we would need once in the U.S.S.R.  I tried my self-taught Russian out for the first time on the Aeroflot flight to Moscow, and laughed along with the Soviets as they struggled to figure out what I was saying, and then correct me.  The people in the U.S.S.R. were amazing; their government, not so much.

Doug and I had wanted an unprecedented honeymoon and we got it.  We also gained ten new grandparents who watched over us 'young ones' while traveling – remaining friends until we grieved each of their deaths over many years.


We returned to the U.S.A. with a tear-jerking love for our country, her people, her food, her way of life, her government and her big fat capitalist ways!  Socialist Democrats?  No way!

From that time forward I volunteered for various Republican campaigns, got involved at the local level and was a Delegate or Alternate to several state conventions.  But all along that journey I was never someone high enough on the Republican food-chain to attend a national convention. 

Then came this – My Year in Politics.